By Doug Maclean – Aviation Editor
Airbus today operated the maiden flight of the A350F freighter from its final assembly site of Toulouse in Southern France. The aircraft is the first of two test aircraft, and for today’s flight it was fitted with special flight test instrumentation. The flight lasted 4 hours 10 minutes with the newest Airbus reaching an altitude of 25,000 feet.
The flight is good news for Prestwick Aerosystems at Prestwick airport because they construct significant parts of the super efficient wings of all Airbus 350 aircraft. There are approximately 1,200 people employed at the airport factory and they also construct parts for the smaller Airbus A320 family of aircraft.
Airbus has a complex world wide construction chain. As far as I can trace today, they make the A350 front spar at Kinston, North Carolina. The spar is nearly 100 percent composite material and measures approximately 105 feet long.
The spar is shipped to Prestwick Aerosystems for integration into the wing leading edges before being trucked to Airbus at Broughton, North Wales. There, the combined manufactured leading edge is integrated into the A350 wing. 2 full wings are then flown out to the A350 Final Assembly factory at Toulouse on the Beluga outsize cargo aircraft.
The A350 freighter will join customer fleets later in 2027 when it will become the most fuel and emission efficient aircraft in long distance flying.
"This maiden flight is a major milestone for the A350F and for our customers worldwide. As the latest development of our highly successful A350 platform, the A350F is a true game-changer for the air cargo market, combining unmatched operational flexibility, fuel efficiency, and range," stated Lars Wagner, CEO Commercial Aircraft at Airbus.
Designed to be the world's most advanced cargo aircraft, the A350F meets the evolving demands of the global air freight market. Thanks to a range capability of up to 6,000 nautical miles and a payload of up to 111 tonnes, it will operate on international long-haul routes. Made of over 70% advanced materials, the A350F has a 46 tonnes lighter maximum take-off weight (MTOW) compared to competitor aircraft.
Prestwick airport has already invested in new freight handling equipment which will allow the Airbus 350F to be loaded and unloaded swiftly. The A350F freight door at 14 feet, 1 inch (4.3 meters) in width and 10 feet, 4 inches (3.15 meters) in height, it is the largest in the industry. This becomes very valuable when loading large cargo items like aircraft engines and wing structures. Both high value cargoes are regularly air freighted through Prestwick.
Against the older but bigger 4 engines Boeing 747 the Airbus A350F is powered by 2 of the latest Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines. According to Airbus “The aircraft will bring a reduction in fuel consumption and carbon emissions of up to 40% compared to competitor aircraft with a similar payload-range capability. It is the first new freighter to fully meet the latest International Civil Aviation Organisation’s CO₂ emission standards.”
Both Air France and Air China Cargo have ordered the A350F. They currently operate the Boeing 777F on routes through Prestwick. Air France scheduled flights arrive from Chicago while Air China Cargo operate the B777F from Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shanghai.
With some of these flights lasting over 12 hours the reduced fuel consumption will be welcomed by the airlines and the reduced CO2 reductions welcomed by the planet.
And while all that technical detail is interesting there is a surprise story behind the new aircraft fun colour scheme. Airbus ran a competition open to the public asking what livery should be painted on to the first aircraft. Over 4,000 entries were received and Airbus selected 2 which ran with the same theme.
Two air mail giant cardboard box designs were submitted and that inspired the Airbus team to merge both designs and add a few tweaks of their own. The result looks like an air cargo box that could be delivered to your door.
"The concepts were similar but focused on slightly different elements, so they complemented each other perfectly,” says Airbus Corporate Design Manager Cassian Koshorst, who spearheaded the integration of both designs. “We were able to place graphics from both designs – including adhesive tape, stickers, and stamps – exactly where we wanted on the aircraft, even adding extra details to the cargo doors to make them stand out.”
The winners were invited to the 2023 Paris Airshow to see their designs combined into a really innovative and fun livery for a huge freight aircraft.
John Feehan is one of the joint winners. He was a then a 57 year old graphic designer from Dublin. The other winners were 2 young brothers from Calgary, Canada. Quinnten Iversen was 16 and his brother Ellisten only 12 when they entered the competition. Both had a passion for aviation and together they came up with a similar theme to John.
The result is a stunning livery that will tour the world in the next years as the aircraft completes its flight test programme and visits customer airlines.